There’s More to Rugby than the Game

The countdown to the Tauranga Arts Fest is on. It has been hidden among the rugby hype,  flapping car flags and is not as obvious as the French team’s white shorts ability to show what each player has on offer. But it is still coming and definitely worth checking out (the Arts Fest, not the shorts).

If you do happen to have a TV attached as an extra body appendage and powered intravenously by your passion for NZ’s national sport, you’ll be pleased to know that you are not exempt from the Arts Festival. Even if you are like my father who always dedicates a portion of our phone conversations to players, teams, scores and blah blah... sigh.

There’ll be no whistle blowing, red cards, video referees or screamed obscenities at the apparently incompetent referees (we all know that you can do a better job), because you’re dragged down to the Arts Festival by the ‘opposition’. You might in fact be pleasantly surprised.

There’s theatre and a photographic exhibition. Not just any theatre where you’re picturing yourself yawning at the opera, dressed in your number ones in the dark, but rugby comedy theatre! Picture watching 'C’Mon Black!' laughing out loud at the main character who’s a farmer and you’ll hear names tossed around like Zinny and Fitzy. You love rugby and who doesn’t like laughing? It also doubles as an abdominal workout, so you can keep that Ab King Pro hidden at the back of the wardrobe keeping the coats off the ground. If my dad was living here, I would actually take him (and he’s the guy who usually snores five minutes into a movie).

And there’s Grace: The Exhibition. Large scale photographs of international players captured in powerful rugby imagery. These pictures are replicated in photos of dancers. It actually looks quite impressive and will be out on the field too, at Masonic Park. There won’t be any orange wedges on offer, but it is free. So it’s worth a look, aye mate.

Now that I’ve sorted your line up it’s time you picked your team and sorted your strategy for the Tauranga Arts Festival. It’ll be the winning conversion.

NB: No puns were harmed in the writing of this article. They were simply enhancing features.  Like Botox in Hollywood.